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Diane Nukuri Johnson is one of the newest of the roughly 3,000 athletes Brendan Reilly has helped as head of the Boulder Wave sports agency.

Running lightly and smoothly down Marshall Road one early morning last month, Diane Nukuri Johnson, 26, stood out with that natural self-confidence that successful athletes have.

The former University of Iowa All American track and cross country runner and native of Burundi was in town training for Sunday's ING New York City marathon. She was in Boulder not only for the altitude and the trails but because her agent, Brendan Reilly, is based here.

Nukuri Johnson is the latest in a long series of runners Reilly has worked with, runners who have helped solidify Boulder's reputation as a premier destination for elite endurance athletes seeking a high-altitude training camp.

Reilly, 52, is an 18-year Boulder resident who stays a bit under the radar, eschewing self-promotion while working on building careers for runners from around the world. He is, it can be said without exaggeration, the person most responsible for the steady presence of world-class marathoners training in, and sometimes moving to, Boulder over the past two decades.

It all began in the fall of 1993, when Reilly took a two-day train trip from his home in Windsor, Conn., to Denver. The graduate of Boston College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, fluent in Japanese, had left his Tokyo banking job. Soon after arriving in town, he started Boulder Wave as a way to help top runners set up training camps.

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Now, more than 3,000 runners later, he is still here and still helping build his runners' careers and Boulder's reputation.

Reilly's training and management smarts work. Boulder resident Yuko Arimori was his first big success, as she took the Olympic marathon bronze in the 1996 Athens Olympics (to go along with her 1992 Barcelona silver medal), followed the next year by fellow Japanese star Hiromi Suzuki winning the gold medal at the 1997 World Championships.

Mike Sandrock

Success built upon success, and Reilly's reputation grew among those who follow the sport. In the 12 Olympic and World Championship women's marathons conducted since he founded Boulder Wave, Reilly's runners have taken 11 medals out of the 36 awarded.

Reilly, a 30 minute, 21 second 10K runner for the Greater Boston Track Club back in the 1980s, has worked with the past three Olympic women's marathon gold medalists. In addition, there is Kenya's Edna Kiplagat, who trained in Boulder before her New York City Marathon win last year, and who in August took the World Championship gold medal.

Reilly does not badger coaches or athletes, preferring to gain new clients through word of mouth. Such was the case with Nukuri Johnson. She was referred to Boulder Wave by Adriana Nelson, of Fort Collins.

It is not easy for young runners to get into a major race such as New York City or Chicago; Reilly's reputation and track record mean race directors trust his judgment and will take a chance on a plane ticket, hotel and expense money for an unproven Reilly runner.

"Brendan has helped me out in many ways," Nukuri Johnson said before leaving Boulder to return for final New York training in Iowa, with her husband and her coach. "He allows me to concentrate on my training."

Nukuri Johnson is a good example of Reilly's patient approach. She had two "rough years" after graduating from Iowa, working at odd jobs until making her big breakthrough at the Los Angeles Marathon in March. There, she clocked 2:33 in her second marathon, a drop of six minutes from her personal best. That resulted in her first big payday and a shoe contract, and set her up for an excellent summer of racing on roads.

"I like to take the long-term approach," Reilly said. "You can't really expect results right after leaving college. More often than not, it takes years. The athlete, sponsor, coach and agent all have to work together, and everyone has to be patient."

Sunday in New York will be another chance for Nukuri Johnson to see if that patient approach is working, as she will be facing perhaps the best field of the year. Whatever place she ends up, Reilly sees a bright future for the young runner.

"Diane is enjoyable to be around, and has such an interesting story," he said. "I can see her finishing in the top 10 at the (London) Olympics next year."

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